HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

J. Keith Butters was recognized for his skills as both a teacher and administrator. (File photo/HBS)

Long an energetic presence in Harvard classrooms and a diplomatic force in the University's administration, Butters was a member of both the HBS faculty and the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) for more than four decades. He became a full professor with tenure at HBS in 1954 and was named to the Casserly chair in 1973. 

His final teaching assignment at Harvard Business School - and one of his favorites, he often said - was in the Owner/President Management Program (OPM), an executive education program designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs. He was a member of the program's original faculty when it was established as the Smaller Company Management Program in 1974, and he continued to teach in it until his retirement in 1986. During this period, he was heavily involved in case and course development for the program in the areas of finance and financial policy.

His fondest memories were of his many OPM students. "There were well over 1,000 graduates during my 12 years with the program," he recalled in a 1986 interview. "Although it is impossible to maintain an active association with every one of them, I could probably go to any major city in this country and even abroad and renew friendships with graduates."

Butters also looked back with considerable satisfaction on several University-wide assignments he undertook as a representative of Harvard Business School. As a longtime member of the University Benefits Committee, beginning in the late 1960s he was involved in the analysis and implementation of all Harvard benefits policies. A high point of this work was his appointment, in 1973, as chairman of the faculty committee responsible for restructuring the University's faculty retirement plan.

From 1983 to 1985, Butters served on then Harvard President Derek Bok's Committee on Ethics and Social Responsibility, a group responsible for proposing a program to promote more effective teaching and research in these areas, especially in the professional schools. 

Born on Aug. 28, 1915, John Keith Butters was a native of Chicago. He received his bachelor's degree in economics in 1937 from the University of Chicago, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. His interest in taxation began during his days as a doctoral student in the Harvard Economics Department from 1937 to 1941. Focusing on public finance, he wrote a Ph.D. dissertation analyzing the federal taxation of corporate income. 

In 1940, he joined the many other academics who had gone to Washington, D.C., to work on the country's economic mobilization for World War II. Butters' work at the U.S. Treasury Department during that time provided the stimulus for his research when he returned to Harvard Business School. He authored or co-authored books on various aspects of tax policy. He also co-edited five editions of "Case Problems in Finance," a best-selling case book, and wrote numerous articles for professional journals.  

Before he began teaching in the Owner/President Management Program, Butters taught courses in finance, taxation, and economics in the Harvard M.B.A. program. During the 1950s, he also taught graduate courses in taxation and public finance in FAS and the Graduate School of Public Administration (the precursor of the Kennedy School of Government).

In 1957, Butters became head of a required M.B.A. course called "Business Responsibilities in the American Society," which introduced more systematic instruction in macroeconomics into the first-year curriculum while emphasizing the social responsibilities of business. From 1969 to 1973, he chaired the School's finance unit.

In 1989, Harvard Business School honored Butters with the Distinguished Service Award in recognition of "extraordinary service that has resulted in a marked increase in the ability of the School to perform its mission as an outstanding educational institution."

Throughout his career, Butters also devoted an enormous amount of his time and talent to commitments and interests beyond academia. He and his late wife, Helena (Renaud), who died in 2004 after 61 years of marriage, were so involved and influential in town politics that they were sometimes referred to as the "Butters Machine." 

Butters also found time to enjoy golf, tennis, bridge, and baseball, rooting avidly for the Chicago Cubs, a team he began following as a boy growing up in the shadows of Wrigley Field. 

In 1990, Butters and his wife moved to Brookhaven, where they were among the retirement community's earliest residents. He was soon named the first resident member of the Brookhaven board of trustees, where he helped to develop financial plans, work with regulatory agencies, and formulate a retirement plan for employees.

Butters is survived by his brother, William, of Arlington Heights, Ill.; three children, Elizabeth Ann of Denver, Gerard R. of Bethesda, Md., and Nancy L. of Lexington, Mass.; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Hancock Church, 1912 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington, MA 02421; Andover Newton Theological School (c/o Desney Crossley), 210 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA 02459; or a charity of one's choice.

- HBS Communications